Thursday, July 9, 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wordpress ahoy!

I was up late pondering last night, as I sometimes do. I was just thinking about how much more awesome Wordpress is apposed to Blogger. For one I can upload mp3s & videos and whatnot. So I've decided to abandon Blogger and migrate to a more respectable and nifty-er personal webspace, before I dig too deep into the tubes. So all ... 4.. of you.. be advised and look out for the link whenever I decide to make a profile there.
Thanks,
Tyler

Sunday, April 19, 2009

New accordion

I've taken an interest in the French music of North America recently...

I am the owner of a new Hohner Ariette 10 button diatonic (or Cajun) accordion.

Push / Pull
1 E - G
2 G - B
3 C - D
4 E - F
5 G - A
6 C - B
7 E - D
8 G - F
9 C - A
10 E - B

It's impossible to make full chords, but there are implied partial chords/blends

Push:
C can be any combination of buttons because C(1st) E(3rd) and G(5th) are everywhere (A is in the Pull)
4+5, 3+4, and 6+7 are most common C chords.

Pull:
G chord (G is the 1 button)
(1+)6+7 or 7+10

D or Am 5+7 or 7+9

F 4+5, 7+8, or 8+9

pulled these off a youtube video... just basic stuff for reference for now.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Norwegian Wood

wanted to learn this for banjo so I could play along with a friend who can play it quite well on guitar.. I think this would be doing the sitar part in the original...

D|~~~0~~~0~~~|~~~~~~~|~~~0~~~0~~|~~~~~~~|
B|~3~3~~~3~~~|~5~3~1~|~0~0~~~0~~|~~~1~0~|
G|~~~0~~~0~~~|~~~~~~~|~~~0~~~0~~|~2~~~~~|
D|~~~0~~~0~~~|~~~~~~~|~~~0~~~0~~|~~~~~~~|
g|~~~~~0~~~0~|~~~~~~~|~~~~~0~~~0|~~~~~~~|

D|~~~0~~~0~~~|~~~~~~~|~~~0~~~0~~|~~~0~~~0~~|
B|~~~0~~~0~~~|~~~~~~~|~~~0~~~0~~|~~~0~~~0~~|
G|~0~0~~~0~~~|~~~5~4~|~0~0~~~0~~|~0~0~~~0~~|
D|~~~0~~~0~~~|~3~~~~~|~~~0~~~0~~|~~~0~~~0~~|
g|~~~~~0~~~0~|~~~~~~~|~~~~~0~~~0|~~~~~0~~~0|

tried to convert this from a bluegrass tab I found...
sounds right to me! This will be awesome next time I jam with him.

Monday, March 30, 2009

It's got to be a Chocolate Jesus...

I saw today's Daily Frail on Tangier Sound showing the minor chord form and how you can keep that form and make every minor chord by just moving it down the neck.. Really cool!

I tried to show this tab in a comment, but it got all jumbled. So hopefully that doesn't happen here.

Intro
4/4 - slow
~~~3~~~3~~~|~~~3~~~3~~~|~~~3~~~3~~~|~~~~~~~~|
~~~3~~~~~3~|~~~3~~~~~3~|~~~3~~~~~3~|~~~~~~~~|
~~~2~~~~~~~|~~~2~~~~~~~|~~~2~~~~~~~|~2(bend)|
~3~3~~~~~~~|~3~3~~~~~~~|~3~3~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~|
~~~~~0~~~~~|~~~~~0~~0~~|~~~~~0~~~~~|~~~~~~~~|

Rest of the song can be found HERE

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Take a whiff on me

an easy, kinda bluesy song.




Take A Whiff On Me

words and music by Huddie Ledbetter

(note: the OCMS cover I was thinking of was "Cocaine blues" on Big Iron World ... it has the same chorus...)

G (0000)
C (2012)
D7(0210)

Chorus:

Take a [G] whiff, take a whiff, take a whiff on me,
[C] Ev'rybody take a whiff on me,
[D7] Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on [G] me.

Verses:

[G] I got a woman six feet tall,
[C] Sleepin' in the kitchen with her feet in the hall,
[D7] Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on [G] me.

Two old maids a-fishin' in the creek,
They ain't caught a man since a-way last week,
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

Want to get a woman let me tell you a word,
Grease your hair down as slick as lard, ...
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

I'm a-walkin' down the road with my hat in my hand,
lookin' for a woman who needs a worried man,
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

walkin' down the road, the road is mighty muddy,
Slippin' and slidin' and I can't stand steady,
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

I know my woman ain't a-treatin' me right,
She don't get home til the day gets light
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

Meet a lot of women out a-ramblin' around,
But the Boston women are the best that I found,
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

Sing your song all night long,
Sing to my woman from midnight on,
Hey, hey, baby take a whiff on me.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Lesson x 2

Quasi-daily folk song lessons! woot!

here's the latest from the youtubes!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Lesson!

Last night I was bored so I grabbed the ol' 5-string and started banging on it, sat in front of the camera and this happened:



A song lesson! A sometimes incoherent song lesson, but a song lesson nonetheless.
Just doing my part to spread the banjo love. Patrick even put it on his blog! That's a really awesome student to teacher thing he has going on, he makes lesson videos and the students watch said videos then submit their own if they choose to and he and his dad can see progress with their students.

I hope this helps someone, somewhere.

Monday, February 23, 2009

singin' and frailin'

Some better videos of me singin'
this time on my 5-string, which I have been learning far longer than guitar.



Thursday, February 12, 2009

Banjitar singin'

On Monday I ran to Guitar Center to see if they had any Ukuleles on sale. They had a $40 piece of plywood they called a ukulele, so I asked what kinda banjos they had. The guy came back with this which they claimed was 43% off.. although looking around the web I see the same price I got there at a lot of different places..

I really like it, I've been playing a 5-string for months now and I think it's so cool I get to learn guitar on a banjo!

anyway, I've hardly played any guitar before a few days ago and hardly ever sang anything (I've done drunken Karaoke a few times) so this morning was ..interesting.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Moscow, Moscow, Your soul is so big

I guess it's time to update this...
I said something about recording a shanty last time, I might still do that. Just thought I'd share a story about my week, because it was pretty exciting. I think it was Sunday when my brother Matt and his wife Amy Bleu came to Spokane, we ate Mexican food and afterward he came and hung out at our place and Jammed for a few hours. My younger brother on Ukulele, Matt on guitar and me frailing on the banjo. It was really fun, we played a song by Eef Barzelay called "I wasn't really drunk." next day they played a show together at the Gallery of Thum' at the famous old steamplant which they converted into a bunch of resteraunts and shops & stuff (you can even rent out their huge boiler tank for banquets) That was cool because Ron Greene opened and so did Bellows Bot (who is also in Amy's band). Then the idea floated around that since I didn't have to work the next day I tag along and go to Moscow with them. So we hit some sports bar and had some beers and I stayed at Amy's place that night.. next day we didn't have to leave until 6 so I hung out with Matt all day. Ate Indian food, shopped at several different music stores (I picked up a metronome, a shorter glass slide which is pretty awesome because of the 5th string tuner always gets in the way, and some thick picks for my brother's mando.) when we got to Moscow the bar looked a lot like that bar in Blues Brothers minus the chicken wire. It really didn't seem like many of the patrons were into it, there was a small group who came up and chatted, danced and even sang along to one of her covers (No Children, by the Mountian Goats) I, having nothing to do but take pictures and watch the show, drank a little too much too fast. I'm sure you've been there before. So the ride home wasn't as ...clean.. as I would've liked it to be, but at least we all made it back in one piece and didn't have to stay in some shitty motel.

I think i'll work on "Greasy Coat" that seems like an easy song
Part A
Am---|Am---|Am---|G-Am-|Am---|Am---|Am---|G-Am-:||
Part B
Am---|G---|Am---|Am---|Am---|G---|Am---|Em-Am-:||

I'd love to be able to play "When dey wud no crawfish" I'd really have to work on the slide for that. OOh I just noticed I have a follower, thanks follower! :D

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Shanghai'd

Just saw a "Folk song of the day" video from 1 year ago that featured the song "blow the man down."

In it Patrick explains how in the 19th century Black Ball freighters kidnapped drunkards, beat them, and when they woke up they were on a ship in the ocean/bay/sound/river or what have you. It was either work for them or drown trying to reach the shore.

It brought to mind the tour I took that I thoroughly enjoyed in Portland, OR (which was the #2 Shanghaiing port on the west coast after San Fransisco) which takes you into the tunnels they used to capture the drunk men from the taverns. I believe women were also taken for nefarious sex slaving business.. The bartenders would wait until some poor bloke, or a few, happened to stand on the right spot, a lever was pulled and BAM down to the tunnel they went where they were beaten and their boots taken so if they tried to escape.. the broken glass and nails strewn about would leave a trail of breadcrumbs so to speak.. Shanghaied crew were considered lower than the rats on board and when food was running out... you became dinner.

I've heard the song before, but never really understood what it meant. Blow the man down = beat the living hell out of him..

I really want to record this one as my first singing attempt since it is very simple (G and D in 3/4). So yeah, look forward to that.. if your reading this.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Singing?

I can't imagine being able to sing while playing... I mess up when I try to say a single word.. It'll come with practice I reckon.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

community

Friends and family are awesome, they'll always make you feel good. I just got done playing a round of drunken Risk, seriously Steel reserve is the best beer you can get for your money....

I got on Tangier Sound again today! For that I'm extremely excited and grateful to the Costellos. Steve From Ohio said something that I thought was pretty deep..
he commented on my latest video..

"Awesome, keep posting! Seeing folks in this community all grow together as musicians is one of the most inspiring aspects of this whole craft."

And every word of that is true. Even though I haven't been there for that long.. the fact that little old me could inspire someone to pick up a banjo is beyond awesome.. Maybe in the near future I could start doing tutorial videos, that would be very rewarding and pretty cool..

I think I'll go to bed now.. I can't stop hiccuping though... turns out that's not just a cliché.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Four AM Frailing

I recorded these instead of Sleeping tonight.

Banks of the Ohio


and Big Rock Candy Mountain



one is a song I know well, the other is one I barely know. Tried these without the resonator on so see what it would be like. I dig it.